


Death Message

by Slytherwitch



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Hades Annabeth Chase, Hades!Annabeth Chase, Mentioned Bianca di Angelo, Post-The Titan's Curse (Percy Jackson), pjo godswap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 00:34:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29892936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Slytherwitch/pseuds/Slytherwitch
Summary: The quest is over. Annabeth has been saved. But two people died and she can't help but to think it's all her fault.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase & Percy Jackson
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	Death Message

_**Death Message** _

Percy pulls her aside on Olympus. 

Annabeth has already been having a terrible week. She was just supposed to pick up some demigods and spend winter break at camp with her best friends. Though she was kidnapped, forced to bear the weight of the world, and became next in line for the prophecy her old mentor is most likely enacting. 

So, when Percy Jackson pulls her aside, she isn’t feeling too well.

“Hey, Annabeth, how are you doing?” He opens the conversation with this, as if she hasn’t had the worst week of her life.

“Not great, Perce.” She’s honest with him, “What do you need?”

“I just wanted to warn you about Nico.” He holds her arm, leading her out of the throne room and into the Empire State Building’s elevator. He presses the button to the bottom floor. They’re doing this by themselves. Nobody else is returning from this trip with them, “Two people died on the quest to save you Annie. One was Zoë, who we… _ saw _ . The other was his sister, Bianca.”

She freezes. Two people  _ died _ trying to save her. There is no coming back from death. As a Daughter of Hades, she knows this. Death is final for mortals. There’s no escaping it; there’s no cheating it.

Having people sacrifice themselves for her doesn’t sit right in her stomach. A life for a demigod is filled with death and pain. But she’s supposed to wield the dead, not have people die for her. She knows this isn’t right.

“Thanks for telling me, Perce.” She looks at him for the first time in this conversation, “and... thanks for saving me.”

“Anytime, Annabeth.” Percy smiles at her. Annabeth takes a good look at him. His back, messy hair now sports a grey strand through the front, just like her own blonde hair.

She changes subjects absentmindedly, “We match.”

“Huh?”

“We match.” Annabeth repeats, then clarifies, “The grey in our hair matches.”

He looks up, trying to see his own hair. It’s too short to do that. Then, he looks at her, undoubtedly at the grey streak through her curls, “Oh yeah! We do, don’t we?”

Annabeth laughs, “Let’s get back to camp, Perce.” She’s grateful for him, no matter what happens, Percy will always be her friend.

  
  


Usually, when people return from quests, a feast is prepared and a campfire sing-along is held afterwards—even if it’s not Friday. Annabeth would know, she’s gotten back from three quests now.

This time isn’t any different, but Annabeth can’t enjoy it. Campers gather around Percy, per usual. Annabeth gathers all of her strength to send off a death glare. Nobody messes with her after that. She has a demigod to scout out.

Annabeth never really had a conversation with either di Angelo. Nico latched onto Percy and Bianca got along with Thalia. Now one of them is dead and she has to be the bearer of bad news. Annabeth wouldn’t pass this duty off, even if the opportunity arises. Bianca died on a quest to save her—she feels responsible.

Mustering up her strength, Annabeth embarks towards the Big House, where Chiron has Nico hold up. He didn’t come to the campfire and Annabeth can’t blame him. She can’t blame him for anything. He’s barely ten. There’s no wondering how he’ll react.

“Hey… Nico?” Annabeth knocks on the opened door, alerting him of her presence. 

Nico perks up. His big, black eyes look at her. They remind her of herself, full of hope and wonder at this new demigod world. She doesn’t want to be the bearer of bad news, but it must be her. She knows it has to be her.

“Annabeth!” Nico exclaims, “How was the quest? Well… what you saw of it, anyways. Are you alright? How was it?”

“Uhh… Nico?” Annabeth latches onto his shoulder, grabbing hold onto the young boy tight, “I wanted to be the one to tell you this, since it was my quest.”

“What is it?” Nico asks, “What’s with that look on your face? Is Bianca alright? Is she hurt?”

“She’s not hurt Nico.” Annabeth gathers all of her courage to look the young boy in his eyes, “She’s dead, Nico. I wasn’t told how it happened, but she wasn’t there to save me. She was killed before then.”

“No… No…” Nico stops thrashing, “Tell me that this is a joke! This isn’t funny! Does she just not want to see me, is that it?”

“Nico, please…”

“No!” Nico breaks free from Annabeth, pulling himself backwards and slipping into the shadows, just as Annabeth herself could do.

  
  


Annabeth slips from out of the Hermes cabin and shadow travels into the Poseidon cabin. While she could’ve just walked, she doesn’t need to deal with the cleaning harpies—especially after the night she’s had.

“I think Nico is a Son of Hades.” Annabeth comments, “He just ran straight into the shadows, like they were better than anything else camp has to offer.”

“Annie! What did I say about just coming in here!”

“Sorry… Sorry…” She apologizes, sitting on the bunk bed opposite of him, “I just needed to talk.”

Percy wipes the sleep from his eyes, “Shoot.”

“Nico’s a son of Hades.” Annabeth comments, “I told him that Bianca was dead and he just ran away into the shadows.”

“He probably thought you were trying to replace Bianca.” 

“I wasn’t!” Annabeth exclaims, “I was just trying to apologize. I didn’t want her or Zoë to die. They didn’t deserve to die.”

“Nobody deserves to die.” Percy replies, “but you can’t fault yourself for how he reacted.”

“I’m just worried about him. He’s ten.” Annabeth replies, “and he’s my brother, technically.”

Percy stands, heading over to Annabeth to pull her into a side hug, “If he’s anything like the other kid of Hades I know, he’ll be fine. He’s strong.”

“But he could do something drastic…” Annabeth replies, “something he can’t undo. He’ll jump at the chance of a family. I know I did…”

Percy doesn’t reply, but shifts to pull Annabeth in a tighter hug. He’s there for her, no matter what.

“I want to go find him.” Annabeth replies, “get to know my brother.”

“You can’t go out there blind.” Percy says, “Sleep. Gather information. You can stay the night here. I’ll help you. We’ll find him, I promise you, Annie.”

Annabeth lets out a choked laugh. She didn’t realize she was crying, but her throat hurts when she replies, “thanks”. Percy unravels from the hug and lays back down in his bed. Annabeth lays down in the bed she’s in and attempts to leave the worrying for in the morning.


End file.
